Under the empire, these festivals afforded "bread and circuses"
to the masses  many performances.

Performances at festivals probably paid for by the state a wealthy
citizen, had free admission, were lengthyincluding a series of plays or events,
and probably had prizes awarded to those who put extra money in.

Acting troupes (perhaps several a day) put on theatre events.

Forms of Roman Theatre

Roman Drama  there are only about 200 years that are
important:

Livius Andronicus  240  204 B.C.  wrote, translated, or adapted
comedies and tragedies, the first important works in Latin. Little is known,
but he seems to have been best at tragedy.

Gnaeus Naevius  270-201 B.C. excelled at comedy, but wrote both

Both helped to "Romanize" the drama by introducing Roman allusions
into the Greek originals and using Roman stories.

Pantomime: solo dance, with music (lutes, pipes,
cymbals) and a chorus.

Used masks, story-telling, mythology or historical stories, usually
serious but sometimes comic

Mime: overtook after 2nd century A.D.
Fabula raciniata.

Spoken
Usually short
Sometimes elaborate casts and spectacleSerious or comic (satiric)
No masks
Had women
Violence and sex depicted literally (Heliogabalus, ruled 218-222 A.D.,
ordered realistic sex)Scoffed at ChristianityNeedless to say, the Church did not look kindly at Mime.

Very popular.Pot of Gold, The Menaechmi, Braggart Warrior
-- probably between 205-184 B.C.
All based on Greek New Comedies, probably, none of which has survivedAdded Roman allusions, Latin dialog, varied poetic meters,
witty jokesSome techniques: stychomythia  dialog
with short lines, like a tennis match
SlapstickSongs

Born in Carthage, came to Rome as a boy slave, educated and
freed
Six plays, all of which survive
The Brothers, Mother-in-Law, etc.More complex plots  combined stories from Greek originals.
Character and double-plots were his forte  contrasts in human behavior
Less boisterous than Plautus, less episodic, more elegant language.
Used Greek characters.
Less popular than Plautus.

Characteristics of Roman Comedy:
Chorus was abandonedNo act or scene divisions
Songs (Plautus  average of three songs, 2/3 of the lines with music; Terence
 no songs, but music with half of the dialog)Everyday domestic affairs
Action placed in the street

Roman Tragedy:

None survive from the early period, and only one playwright from
the later period:

Nine extant tragedies, five adapted from Euripides.His popularity declined, suicide in 65 A.D.
Though considered to be inferior, Seneca had a strong effect on later dramatists.
The Trojan Women, Media, Oedipus, Agamemnon, etc.,
all based on Greek originals
Probably closet dramasnever presented, or even expected to be.

Characteristics of Roman Tragedy (Senecan):five episodes / acts divided by choral odeselaborate speeches  forensic influence
interest in morality  expressed in sententiae (short pithy
generalizations about the human condition)
violence and horror onstage, unlike Greek (Jocasta rips open her womb, for
example)Characters dominated by a single passion  obsessive
(such as revenge)  drives them to doomTechnical devices:
Soliloquies,asides, confidantsinterest in supernatural and human connections  was
an interest in the Renaissance{Top of Page}

Little influence in his time (interest at the time was in theatre
not drama), but much influence in the RenaissanceInterpreted Aristotles Poetics, but less
theoretical and more practice-orientedMentions unities (of time, place, and action),
genre separation, language use in tragedy and comedy

Roman Theatre
Design  Buildings

First permanent Roman theatre built 54 A.D. (100 years after
the last surviving comedy)
So permanent structures, like Greece, came from periods after significant
writing
More that 100 permanent theatre structures by 550 A.D.

General characteristics:
Built on level ground with stadium-style seating (audience raised)
Skene becomes scaena  joined with audience to form
one architectural unit Paradoi become vomitorium
into orchestra and audienceOrchestra becomes half-circle
Stage raised to five feetStages were large  20-40 feet deep, 100-300 feet long,
could seat 10-15,000 people3-5 doors in rear wall and at least one in the wingsscaena frons  façade of the stage
house  had columns, niches, porticoes, statues  painted
stage was covered with a roof
dressing rooms in side wingstrap doors were commonawning over the audience to protect them from the sun,
during the empire around 78 B.C, .cooling system  air
blowing over streams of water
area in from of the scaena called the proskene
(proscenium)

Referred to as histriones and mimes  later primarily histriones
Mostly male  women were in mimes
Rocius  famous, raised to nobilityMimes, however, were considered inferior; perhaps they
were slaves.
We know little about the size of troupes
In the 1st century B.C., a "star" performer seems to have been emphasized6th century A.D.  Theodora  a star actress
 married Emperor Justinian of the Eastern Empire  but had to renounce her
profession

Style of acting

Mostly Greek traditions  masks, doubling of roles
Tragedy  slow, stately, declamatory deliveryComedymore rapid and conversationalMovements likely enlargedActors probably specialized in one type of drama, but did
othersEncores if favorite speeches given (no attempt at "realism")Mimes  no masksGreek or roman costumes
Much music